TILLEY, Sir Samuel Leonard, Canadian statesman, born in Gagetown, Queen's County, New Brunswick, 8 May, 1818. His father was Thomas Morgan Tilley, and his grandfather, Samuel, was a loyalist, who, at the close of the American Revolution, left Brooklyn, New York, and settled in New Brunswick becoming a grantee of the city of St. John. The family is of Dutch extraction. Young Tilley was educated at the county grammar-school, but at the age of twelve he was obliged to leave his home and seek employment. He went to St. John and entered a drug-store as an apprentice. After duly serving his time he went into business on his own account with Thomas W. Peters. He joined a debating society, and became a warm and uncompromising exponent of the temperance cause. Throughout his life he has remained a total abstainer. In 1849 Mr. Tilley's name first appears in connection with the politics of his native province, when, espousing the side of the protectionists of that day, he nominated and aided in electing a candidate for the legislature. Toward the close of the year he took an active part in forming the New Brunswick railway league, which had for its object the construction of a line of railway from St. John to Shediac. At the general election of 1850 he was nominated a candidate for St. John in the reform interest. In June he was elected to a seat in the house of assembly. In 1851, however, the Liberals experienced a serious reverse, two of the leading members of their party having deserted to the other side. Mr. Tilley and two of his friends resigned, and he did not return to public life until 1854, when his old constituency re-elected him. In November he entered the cabinet of the Liberal administration, and from that day to the present time (1888) he has enjoyed, save in two periods of a few months' duration, uninterrupted power as minister or governor. In 1856 he was beaten at the polls on the prohibitory liquor-law question, when his ministry made the subject a direct issue. The new government repealed the act, but was unable to maintain itself in office longer than a year, when, a dissolution occurring, the Liberals were again returned to power, and Mr. Tilley was reinstated in his old post as provincial secretary. Shortly afterward he became premier. From June, 1857, till March, 1865, Mr. Tilley remained leader. In 1864 he went to Charlottetown, Prince Edward island, to attend the conference of maritime parliamentarians, with a view to forming a legislative union of the three provinces by the sea--Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward island. Several members of the Canadian government, among whom was Sir John A. Macdonald, being on a visit to the lower provinces and hearing of the proposed meeting, expressed a desire to be present. Invitations were sent to them; they attended, and succeeded in inducing the delegates to abandon the smaller scheme and meet later in the year at. Quebec, where a grander union would be proposed and discussed. The greater assembly accordingly met on 10 October, and sat with closed doors until the 27th of the month, when the famous "Quebec scheme" was completed. In the framing of those resolutions, which now form the basis of the British North America act, 5h'. Tilley took an active part. In March, at the general elections, Mr. Tilley submitted the question to the people; but he and his party suffered defeat. Notwithstanding the premier's strong personal popularity in his own constituency, the majority of votes east against him in 1865 was very large, but in the following year the new government resigned, and the majority was reversed. Delegates from Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick were sent to London to complete the terms of union, and at this conference Mr. Tilley ably represented his province. For his services he was made a companion of the Bath (civil) by the queen, and on resigning his seat in the New Brunswick house of assembly for a seat in the house of commons at Ottawa he was sworn in as a member of the Canadian privy council, and appointed minister of customs in the first cabinet of the Dominion. From November, 1868, till April, 1869, he was acting minister of public works, and on 22 February, 1873, he was made minister of finance in succession to Sir Francis Hincks. This important portfolio he held until the fall of the Macdonald government on 5 November of the same year. Before leaving office Sir John Macdonald appointed his colleague lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, which office he filled with great acceptance until 11 July, 1878, and though it is said a second term was offered to him by the MacKenzie administration, he declined it, and accepted the nomination of the Conservative party for a seat in the house of commons. He ran in his old constituency, St. John, and narrowly escaped defeat., his majority being but nine votes. This was doubtless due to the stand that he took on the tariff question, which was declared to be a high protective one, and framed to protect the Canadian manufactures. The platform of the Conservatives obtained throughout the country, and Sir John Macdonald, on being asked to form a government, invited Mr. Tilley to resume his old post. On presenting himself for re-election, he was returned by acclamation. In due time he formulated the national policy of the ministry on the floor of the house in one of the ablest speeches that he had ever made. Though the measure was hotly discussed, it finally passed, and has ever since been the policy of the country. On 24 May, Mr. Tilley was created a knight commander of St. Michael and St. George by the Marquis of Lorne, then governor-general of Canada. He also holds a patent of rank and precedence from the queen as an ex-councillor of New Brunswick. He held the office of finance minister of the Dominion until October, 1885, when his health failed, and he retired from parliament and the ministry to accept, , for a second term, the less laborious office of lieu-tenant-governor of New Brunswick, which post he still holds. As a speaker he is fluent and eloquent. Many important public measures owe their inception to him, chief of which, however, is the act dealing with the readjustment and reorganization of the customs tariff.